The Council - Episode 4: Burning Bridges DLC

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 235: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10) If Episode 3 cracked open the mystery, Episode 4 lights it on fire and tosses it into a pit of esoteric madness. What begins as political backstabbing soon transforms into ancient lore, bloodline secrets, and full-blown supernatural weirdness. It's messy, ambitious, and a little unhinged—and that’s part of the charm. While not every twist lands cleanly and some scenes stretch credulity, this is the episode where [i]The Council [/i]fully commits to being something else entirely. 🪜 [b] Pros: [/b] [list] [*]The big twist finally drops—and it’s wild. If you’ve been picking up on the strange vibes and whispered mythology, this is the episode where it all comes to the surface. The reveal about Louis’ origins completely reorients your understanding of the story and your role in it. It’s bold, bonkers, and borderline camp—but in a way that works because the game has spent so long slowly simmering toward this point. [*] Political tensions explode. The various factions around the table—Washington, Napoleon, Piaggi, Mortimer—are no longer playing nice. This episode is rife with verbal warfare, double-crosses, and threats hidden behind polite smiles. If you're invested in the intrigue, this is the episode where it pays off. Y[*] our previous choices finally bite back. Conversations play out very differently depending on how you’ve treated allies (or enemies) in past episodes. A formerly friendly character may shut down completely, or a failed check from Episode 2 may come back to haunt you here. You feel the weight of your earlier path, which adds serious tension. [*] The lore is absurd—but compelling. Ancient beings, divine bloodlines, secret knowledge passed down through generations… It sounds silly written out, but [i]The Council [/i]sells it with just enough sincerity and historical grounding that it works. If you’re into [i]Assassin’s Creed[/i] meets [i]The Da Vinci Code, [/i]you’ll eat this up. [*] Great use of environment and symbolism. The manor remains your primary setting, but now it’s layered with occult significance. Rooms you've walked through dozens of times suddenly feel ominous, loaded with meaning. There’s a sense that the walls themselves are hiding truths you’ve only just begun to grasp. [*] Dialogue checks are more intense and meaningful. Failure doesn’t just mean a missed opportunity anymore—it can cost you an entire subplot, a major clue, or an ally. Every stat point now feels precious, and you're constantly weighing whether to spend effort points or save them for something worse. [/list] 🔐[b] Cons: [/b] [list] [*] The voice acting can’t keep up with the stakes. Unfortunately, the more dramatic the plot becomes, the more the uneven delivery stands out. Key scenes—especially involving Mortimer and his “revelations”—are undercut by stiff or oddly flat performances. It’s not game-breaking, but it does make certain dramatic moments feel unintentionally goofy. [*] The dialogue gets campy, fast. Once the story takes its big turn, the writing tries to catch up by throwing massive info dumps your way. There are long stretches of exposition with minimal interactivity, and some conversations devolve into melodrama. It’s a bit of a tonal clash with the grounded political thriller vibes of earlier episodes. [*] Some characters just vanish. Depending on your choices, certain NPCs fade into the background—or literally disappear—with little fanfare. It's especially disappointing when it happens to characters you’ve been investing time into. The branching paths are impressive, but occasionally feel like they collapse entire plotlines without resolution. [*] Puzzles take a backseat to lore. If you loved the environmental and logic puzzles of earlier episodes, you may be let down here. This chapter is much more narrative-heavy. There’s still exploration, but the moment-to-moment gameplay becomes more about reading and reacting than solving. [/list]